Quote:
Originally Posted by Pierre
He just has the same powers as Jo Public. It all comes down to the term "reasonable"
Did the security guard act reasonably.
Did he have firm grounds to suspect the shoplifter.
Did he use reasonable force to detain him.
Personally, I would think that a rugby style tackle to stop and detain somebody was reasonable. If he tackled then gave him a few punches and kicks then that is unreasonable.
The police have no option but to arrest the guy, I would hope he would be ok in court.
Only sticky point is, if the security guard knew the guy had a bottle on his person, he does have a duty of care to think about the guys safety before he tackles him. That is what might be an issue, but it would be very harsh.
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This is a long time ago but iirc it doesn't come down to reasonable, first and foremost it comes down to whether the crime committed is indictable and low level theft such as this isn't, it's dealt with by magistrates, I hope for the guards sake the guy that died was banned from the shop or has a long criminal record or that'll be more questions he'll have to answer or answer for. As I said earlier citizens arrest is a minefield just waiting to go of in your face.